Creating a Fibaro Scene – Understanding the basics

On weekdays, at 10pm, roll down the blinds and dim the living room lights by 80%. This is a simple example of a set of rules you can use to automate the Fibaro System events. Known as ‘Programming a Scene,’ it helps you coordinate all or a set of devices by using a single command or using the input of a device to trigger a set of events.

Learning the logic and the basic scene building techniques will help you automate repeated activities in your home in a more effective manner.

Understanding the Fibaro Scene Builder Logic

Even though the word ‘programming’ might sound intimidating, Fibaro Home Centre 2 use of simple IF/THEN logic to make comparisons and decisions. Couple this with a powerful drag-and-drop programming feature and you get manageable programming powers and the ability to create amazing scenes with utter simplicity. The IF section of the scene logic checks if predetermined conditions are right, if yes, the THEN section contains the executable instructions that will tell the system what to do.

A simple implementation of this logic could be:IF [22.00hrs] //assuming that this is the time you retire to bed
THEN [bedroomlight=off 80%] //dim lights by 80%
AND [rollerblinds = shut]//shut roller blinds

This forms the basis of any scene regardless of how complex or simple it might be. With the Fibaro application featuring an easy to use graphic user interface, you would never have to write the IF/THEN conditionals by hand. In essence, the programming will be as easy as clicking on a few buttons and the system will translate that into the code.

Starting a New Scene

To launch the Fibaro Scene Builder, navigate to the Scenes section. At the very bottom of the page, click on the “Add” button. This will pop up a New Scene window. Give the scene a name, for instance “Sleep” in the ‘General’ settings tab. You will also have to assign the new scene to a specific room in your home. This refers to the rooms you created when installing the Fibaro Home Centre for the very first time.

Here is a piece that will help you understand more about the creation of sections and rooms for your Fibaro Home Centre 2

With this done, you can now move on to the ‘Advanced’ settings tab to do the actual programming. At the bottom of the page you are working on, there will be a plus (+) sign that drops down a menu with the widgets and buttons you need to program your very first Fibaro Scene.

The Right Programming Sequence

The first thing is to set an IF conditional that will be used to trigger the events in your scene when the conditions are right. You can use a variety of triggers for the IF conditional depending on what you want to attain. For instance, you could use a motion sensor or a camera to trigger the alarm when something moves in your backyard. Alternatively, you can feed the IF condition with a Timer.

For our case, we will use a Timer to trigger the scene on weekdays at 10pm. Choose Timers > Days of Week. A new interface will allow you to choose the days of your week and the time in 24h format. Once you are done with this, click on the plus (+) (after the ‘THEN’) to add the instructions.

The next action is dimming your lights by 80% and rolling the down the blinds. To achieve this, you will have to navigate to Devices. You will have to add the necessary devices to the scene by using the ‘More Devices’ button. Knowing the devices you will use in your scene beforehand will make things neat since you can add all of them to your scene by simply ticking them before clicking the add button.

For this example, we only need the bedroom light dimmer and the blinds roller. Click on it to select it and then click add to introduce it to the scene.

There will appear a set of actions applicable to that specific device. You can select the desired commands by clicking on the green box. For our case, it will be the “close” command. Do not add anything to the degree (red box) since you want it fully closed.

To dim the lights, you first have to choose the ‘and’ command, which is found under ‘Commands.’ After this, you can now repeat the sequence followed above in choosing a device only that you will not have to add the dimmer since you added it before.

Set the lights to ‘Turn Off’ and choose a percentage (80) on the red box. This will dim the lights by 80 percent.

Finally, click on the save scene button and the scene will show up on your application’s dashboard. Your first scene is live and all you have to do is wait for the set time.

Notable Points

Scenes vary in complexity. Thinking of what you want to accomplish beforehand will help you come up with the best way to tackling the problem. The simpler the solution the more effective it will be.

Combining conditions and instructions with the ‘and’ ‘or’ commands will help you achieve more functionality hence accomplish complex fetes

Once you know the basics, take some time to experiment on a variety of scenes to learn more a possible solutions to a given automation problem. Programming is an art, all you have to learn is the basics and then use your creativity to solve problems.

The Fibaro Scene Builder Blocks

Schedule

Let’s you set a time for your scene to begin.

Condition

Let’s you enter a condition for your scene

State & Action

The state of the device (what do you want it to do
The action you can set to a specified number (50%)